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The liberation of Buchenwald

Prisoners and U.S. army soldiers stand behind the gate of Buchenwald concentration camp on which it is written "Jedem das seine" (To each his just deserts). The construction of Buchenwald camp started July 15, 1937 and was liberated by U.S. General Patton's army April 11, 1945. Between 239,000 and 250,000 people were imprisoned in this camp. About 56,000 died among which 11,000 Jews. On the 5th of April Patton's army liberated the Buchenwald commandos in Ohrdruf. On the 11th of April the International Committee (created in August 1943 by the prisoners), who managed to obtain and hide arms during previous shelling, gave the order for an insurrection which pave the way for the US army.

Credit: Eric Schwab/Getty Images

Prisoners look at the photographer in block 61 of Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945.

Credit: Eric Schwab/Getty Images

A prisoner dying of dysentery at the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald peers out from his bunk in April 1945 upon the liberation of the camp by Allied troops.

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A tortured Prisoner is seen in the Buchenwald concentration camp in April 1945.

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French Julien Cain (L) chats with an unidentified man in the courtyard of Nazi camp of Buchenwald in April 1945 after its liberation. Julien Cain director of the National Library and Leon Blum's Cultural Advisor until 1940, when he joined the French Resistance. He was arrested February 12, 1941 and deported to Buchenwald in July 1944.

Credit: Eric Schwab/Getty Images

Jewish deportees in the Buchenwald death camp after the liberation of the Nazi's concentration camp in 1945. The Jews in Europe who escaped the Nazi holocaust were herded into refugee camps and some with organized Zionist help tried to reach Palestine.

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Weak and ill survivors of the Nazi concentration camp in Buchenwald march April 1945 towards the infirmary, after the liberation of the camp by Allied troops.